How to Write Content That Attracts People Who Already Want to Buy

7 Steps to Turn Customer Questions Into Content That Helps You Sell Back to Your Customers

Key Takeaways:

• Describe your customer’s situation clearly enough that they recognize themselves.
• Open with a result your audience wants, and connect it to someone they can relate to.
• Use clear language, useful examples, and believable claims to build trust.
• Give readers a practical next step that follows naturally from your content.
• Judge results by qualified inquiries and sales, along with views and clicks.

You’re publishing content. Maybe it gets a few likes. Maybe people even visit your website.

But the inquiries you hoped for? Those aren’t showing up.

Before you decide you need to publish more, look at what your content is saying. Can a potential customer immediately recognize their situation, see a result they want, and understand how you could help?

That’s a useful test for a blog post, a video, an email, or the first few lines of your home page.

Use this formula:

• Understand their situation
• Lead with a desirable outcome
• Make your message easy to understand

1. Start With a Situation Your Customer Recognizes

One of the best starting points for your content is something your customer has already been thinking about.

Compare these two openings:

“Many businesses struggle with digital marketing.”

“You’re paying to get people to your website, but most leave without calling. Now you’re wondering whether to spend more on ads or fix the site first.”

The second gives the reader something specific to recognize. It names what’s happening and the decision they’re trying to make.

That’s the kind of detail you want.

If you can explain someone’s situation clearly, you give them a reason to keep reading. You’re demonstrating that you understand the problem they’re trying to solve.

But accuracy matters. Describing a problem well doesn’t automatically prove you can fix it. Your advice, examples, and evidence need to support that first impression.

Find the Words Customers Actually Use

Look through customer emails, sales questions, reviews, and support conversations.

Pay attention to comments like:

• “I don’t know what I’m getting for what I spend.”
• “People keep asking questions that are already answered on the website.”
• “We get calls, but they’re usually for work we don’t do.”
• “I don’t have time to post every day.”

Each statement gives you a useful content starting point.

For example, “We get calls for work we don’t do” could become:

How to Make Your Website Attract More of the Jobs You Actually Want

That topic connects directly to a business concern.

If you need help with phrases people are actually typing into Google, check out my Autocompleter tool which gives you exactly that. Dig deep and find long-tail keywords that have super low competition.

2. Use a Desire Hook to Show the Outcome – IMPORTANT!

A desire hook opens with a result the reader wants. It helps them see why the content deserves their attention.

Consider the difference:

“Three tips for writing service pages.”

“Help homeowners understand your services before they pick up the phone.”

Both could introduce the same article. The second makes the benefit more visible.

Here are a few more examples:

Topic-focused opening	Outcome-focused opening
Five email marketing tips	Write emails that give interested customers a reason to reply.
How to improve your contact page	Make it easier for a potential customer to request an estimate.
A guide to website copywriting	Help visitors understand what you do and whether you’re right for them.

A straightforward informational headline can still work well, especially when it matches what someone is searching for. The opportunity is to make the value clear, whether that happens in the title, the opening paragraph, or both.

Also, choose an outcome that connects to your business. A larger audience may sound appealing, but a service business might care much more about getting inquiries for the right kind of work.

Make the Outcome Believable

Specific numbers and deadlines can make a hook more interesting. They also create expectations.

If you promise dramatic growth in six weeks, you need evidence to support that claim. A result from one customer doesn’t establish what everyone else should expect.

When you don’t have that evidence, get specific about the problem and the action:

“What to check when your website gets visitors but few estimate requests.”

That gives readers a clear reason to click without inventing a success story.

3. Give the Reader Someone to Relate To

An outcome becomes more concrete when it belongs to a recognizable person.

That person can be your reader:

“If you run a small plumbing company, here’s how to make your service area clear before someone calls.”

It can be you, when you have relevant experience to share.

Or it can be a customer whose results you can document and have permission to discuss.

Keep the circumstances relevant. A local business owner may have trouble applying advice from a company with a huge audience and a full marketing department. Examples should help readers understand what they could reasonably do with their own resources.

For a real case study, explain the starting situation, what changed, what happened afterward, and any important limitations. If an example is hypothetical, say so.

4. Desire Hook Templates You Can Adapt

These templates combine a recognizable audience or situation with a useful outcome.

A. How to Get a Result

Template: How to [desired result] when [relevant situation].

Example: How to make your services easier to understand when customers keep asking what you actually do.

B. An Outcome With a Constraint

Template: Want [outcome] without [unwanted burden]? Start with [practical action].

Example: Want a useful business blog without writing every day? Start with the questions customers ask before hiring you.

C. A Recognizable Situation

Template: If [current situation], here’s what to check before [next decision].

Example: If your website gets traffic but few inquiries, here’s what to check before increasing your ad budget.

D. A Documented Customer Story

Template: How [relatable customer] achieved [verified outcome] after [specific change].

Use this when you have an actual story and supporting evidence. Explain enough context for readers to assess whether the example applies to them.

E. Help With a Buying Decision

Template: Trying to choose between [option A] and [option B]? Here’s how to decide based on [important consideration].

Example: Trying to choose between a website redesign and smaller updates? Here’s how to decide based on what’s stopping visitors from contacting you.

These openings give you a promise to fulfill. The content that follows should deliver the explanation, process, or evidence you offered.

5. Make Your Message Easy to Understand

Frank Luntz captures a useful communication principle in the subtitle of his book Words That Work: “It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear.” See the publisher’s description.

Apply that idea to your content by checking what a reader is likely to understand.

For example:

“We optimize conversion pathways through strategic messaging alignment.”

What does that mean to a busy business owner?

Try:

“We make it easier for website visitors to understand your services and contact you.”

You can use simple phrases to guide people through an explanation:

• “In plain English…” Follow a technical term with an everyday explanation.
• “Here’s why this matters to you…” Connect your advice to a decision or problem.
• “Imagine this…” Introduce a concrete scenario the reader can picture.
• “What would you do next?” Help readers apply the information.
• “The main point is…” Make your central recommendation clear.
• “Here’s what I want you to remember…” Leave readers with one useful idea.

You can also test your draft by asking someone, “What did you take from that?” If their answer misses your intended point, revise the explanation.

What I like to say is, make it so Homer Simpson could understand it. I had to follow my own advice. I have a website analyzer tool, and I had some fancy phrase on it, but then I just changed it to “Free Website Analyzer” instead – just to make sure people understood what it really is. That’s always the best route to take.

6. Put the Pieces Together

Here’s a sample opening for an article aimed at a local service business:

Want more inquiries for the services you actually offer?

If your phone rings but callers keep asking for work you don’t do, check how your website describes your business.

Start with your main service pages. Make it easy to see what you handle, where you work, and how to request an estimate. Use examples of actual jobs to help visitors recognize whether you’re a fit.

The opening names a desired outcome, describes a recognizable situation, and gives the reader somewhere useful to start.

From there, the article could show service-page examples, explain what information to include, and help readers review their own pages.

The next step should match that content. You might invite them to check one page, use a relevant checklist, or get help reviewing their website.

7. Measure Whether You’re Attracting the Right People

A hook can earn attention without producing useful business results.

Along with views and clicks, pay attention to:

• Whether inquiries concern the services you want to sell.
• Whether prospects understand your offer.
• Whether those inquiries turn into customers.

Use those observations to refine your topics and wording. Content can support a buying decision, but the offer, price, timing, and customer experience still matter.

For your next post, choose one real customer question. Describe the situation behind it, identify the outcome that person wants, and write an opening that connects the two.

Then give them an answer worth reading.

📄 Download a PDF of This Article